11 Tools #10- Digital Citizenship

I want my students to understand and keep the following in mind when using technology:

• Always use kind words and treat others how you wish to be treated
• Don't email, write down, or post anything that you don't want everyone to see/read. (from the words of my father "If you wouldn't want it on the front page of the paper then don't share/write it down")
• If you aren't sure about something being appropriate it probably isn't, if it is a question about a website always ask a teacher or parent before clicking!
• Don't ever give out your personal information!

I would use the videos and quizzes on BrainPop to help teach digital citizenship. They are short and to the point. Many of these can be worked into different subject areas as well. The videos on Internet research and on plagiarism will be good to use when starting our research projects. The ones on Cyberbullying can be worked into our Character Education lessons. There are also ways to differentiate the instruction on BrainPop with the various follow up activities.

The best way to teach anything is through modeling and also being aware of what the students are doing. As they gain more knowledge they gain more responsibility and flexibility. The only way to teach them is through doing. There is so much out there now for the kids, many are wonderful resources, however there is so much that is very inappropriate for them as well. I do believe that the only way is to teach them the responsibility that is needed. They can't fully understand that if everything is blocked to them. There also needs to be some common expectations at school AND at home. This will make the expectations more clear and easily understandable to the student.

I always begin the year with clear expectations for the students. I share these expectations with the parents during open house and also in a handout in case a parent doesn't make it to open house. This year I'm going to use the video  Too Much Information that I found through my Librarian's blog to begin my digital Citizenship and expectations to the parents.

11 Tools #9- Incorporating Devices as Learning Tools

I thought the video about schools changing to meet students needs was very interesting. The statement about ADD/ADHD being "fictitious" was eye opening to me. It was also interesting to see that as the amount of testing has risen so has the amount of kids diagnosed with ADD/ADHD. So why are we still insisting on more and more testing each year if this is not helping our students?  In my years of teaching I have had many students come through my classroom that had been tested by doctors that were "diagnosed" with this and some were medicated, some were not, some where on strict diets to help, etc. However all the children in my class they were more engaged when there were different elements to the lesson besides sitting and listening to a "lecture". Luckily I am not a lecture type person in the way I teach. Now when I go to classes for myself I prefer a lecture format with time to explore on my own. This however was the way I was taught and it is most comfortable for myself. I liked how he illustrated the way our outside environment has evolved but our schools have not necessarily evolved to fit our outside environment. I'm so glad that I already use--small groups, individual assignments, large group and many other forms of teaching all in one lesson. I feel like I'm on the right track. Collaborative learning is something these kids will need to know how to do when they get out of school. As teachers we have to collaborate with each other, it is only common sense for  us to model this for the students now so they know how to collaborate effectively when they graduate and are working.

I have been very fortunate to have 2 iTouches for my classroom the last 2 years. These have been great devices to use during my Literacy Daily 5 Sessions and during our Math Tub time. I am excited about having additional devices because this opens up more options for my students. During Literacy time they use the iTouch to practice sight words, vocabulary, and for listening to audio books. At this time I used the 2 iTouches for apps and then had 3 personal CD players that played books on CD. This next year I will use some of the iTouches as the listening station to replace one of the personal CD players that is at the end of its life. Since my listening sessions are so popular, using the iTouches in this manner is very useful because it allows more children to participate during each session.
I like that I will be syncing all of my devices. This allows me more flexibility to set up the devices to benefit my students better. I also used a recording journal to track the apps and time each student used the device so I had a record of their work. I would like to do more menu activities to have a greater accountability for the students. These simple menus were used during the math time however they focused on the apps that were applicable to math instead of language arts. I also had a few students that had these devices at home and were very good at trouble shooting, remember passwords, etc. I called them my Tech Gurus and they were the go to person if there was a problem if a student needed help.

I can't wait to have the netbooks in my classroom. So many of my students this year enjoyed taking their books to a full publication by typing and formatting their work into books that they could then illustrate and and place in our classroom library. This will give them the option to do research for their nonfiction books, access their Google Docs, and also be able to produce their work through some of the tools I learned about in lesson #5--like Storybird or Storyjumper.

This summer I plan to work on Menus for my class for our various units in LA, SS, Sci, and Math. These menus will incorporate technology and other non technology assignments. This will give the student freedom to choose activities he/she is interested in but give me the tools I need to see how far this child's knowledge reaches. Since these menus are still in the beginning stages of being created I unfortunately don't have any examples to share. When I do I will update.
I liked the matrix--Luckily I feel that my classroom fell mostly in the Infusion columns. There is still so much for me to improve on though.
I can't wait to get the devices to get them set up and ready for student use! They have proven to be great resources for my students the last 2 years and I look forward to the additional devices to take my classroom and my teaching from Infusion to Transformation!

11 Tools #8-Devices in the classroom

I will be receiving iTouches and Netbooks for my classroom. I really do wish that 2nd grade would also be receiving an iPad or two. I think these would have been very useful for additional apps that are exclusive to iPad, to use as research stations, etc. I hope that as new materials are purchased in the future this is considered for the primary grades.

That being said--I have been fortunate to have had 2 iTouches the last two years in my classroom.
I also was able to use the netbooks in the library for a whole class lesson.
Since I am familiar with devices I'm ready to go!

11 Tools #7-Online Digital Projects

This year I plan to use Skype to bring more experts in to share their knowledge with my class. I hope to implement this early on in the year by beginning with Skyping with other classrooms within my school to set up practice time. This will help to model the expectations I have for the students before we get to our bird project the 4th 9 weeks.
For the final collaborative project my class will Skype with another classroom about their Bird Projects.
They will begin with using Google Docs to collect their research notes, write their rough draft, submit to me and then complete their Final Report.
After their Bird Presentations they will Skype with another classroom about their bird. I think that the format a teammate of mine used this year was a great way to organize the discussions. She and the other teacher grouped students by types of birds--birds of prey, song birds, etc. Then each group had a time to discuss their birds with the other class.
I look forward to developing this lesson over the year and finding a classroom outside of my school that would like to participate with us.

11 Tools #6-Web Tools to Promote Classroom Discussion

This year I already used a few of these tools in my classroom: Google Docs, Wallwisher, and Blogger.
I used Google Docs to share and receive files from teammates and students. I used Wallwisher earlier in the year but only once to ask the kids a question about a book we were reading. I also tried  using a classroom blog this year. Since this was my first year blogging I did not use it to its full potential. I have over the course of the year learned more about Blogger and have mapped out a plan for this to be a more successful way to communicate with parents and students.

Here is a Wallwisher I just created and sent the link to my classroom parents. I hope to hear some great responses from my students

Click on the picture to go to my wall on WallWisher

Here is my classroom blog:

This school year I will continue to use Blogger, Google Docs, and Wall Wisher.

I will add these new tools this year to my classroom:

Todays Meet--this would have been great to use during the Webinar we did with NASA earlier this year. I can't wait to use this during presentations and hopeful during other webinars we participate in.

Skype- to communicate with other classrooms and promote discussion. I had a Skype account already so I was excited that I could use the same account to create a Skype in the classroom account. I like that you can view lessons and ideas from other teachers and can connect to other classrooms through these communication requests. I can't wait to use this in the classroom this next year.

11 Tools #5- Web 2.0 Tools

I have been using web 2.0 in my classroom since learning about them through the classes 23 Things and 11.5 Things.
The kids really enjoy them and ask to use them all the time.
Wordles--
-Get to know  you: pairs made a wordle with their names and things they had in common with each other
-Language Arts: describes story elements of a book
-Any subject: beginning of a lesson-what we know, end the lesson-what we learned
My class really enjoyed the taste off that we did this year. The kids decided that we needed a wordle to show our favorite fruits and one for our favorite vegetables. Here are the finished products:

     

We also used the Trading Card creator through Big Huge Labs. Each student created a trading card about the bird they researched for the 4th 9 week project. Then after they gave their presentation they gave everyone a trading card. At the end of the presentations each student had a ring of cards about birds.
We also created trading cards about our favorite books. Each student also recieved a trading card of everyone's favorite book. They could then use these card rings to look up books in the library and read the books recomended to them by their peers. Here are examples of each:

 

We also used Animoto this year. The students made a Holiday greeting for their parents and emailed it to them. Including pictures and a short video greeting into the animoto. It was a hit the last two years that I did this.
I also used Animoto to help me create an end of the year movie for the kids. In the past I only used iMovie with the pictures taken throughout the year. This year a fellow teacher figured out that the animotos could be exported and then dropped into iMovie to create a movie that spanned the entire school year.
Here is one of my videos:



Next year I plan to also use the following tools:
Glogster-this would also be a great addition to the bird project as well as our research during our heros unit.
Storybird or Storyjumper- Being able to take their writing into a online publishing format that can be emailed to their parents will be so meaningful and such a great incentive to go through the publishing process. Storybird seems easier to use however I like that Storyjumper gives you the option to upload your own images, truly making the work all their own.
Comix.com- with the many comics that the kids love to read this would also be a great way for them to publish their own comic strips.

11 Tools #4- Up to the Clouds

I enjoyed using Google Docs this year with my students. I first tried it in a class by practicing creating, sharing and commenting on documents. I then used Google Docs with some of the blogs I follow since some of the bloggers have shared docs on their blogs. This has proven to be a valuable resource.
At the end of the year I shared a  report outline and expectations for a project with all of my students through the SBISD Google Apps. The students received the file, saved it to their document files, did their research, and wrote the report. I was able to comment on their work through out this process. This cute down on a lot of extra paper and tedious rewriting during the editing process.
My students this year also used the presentation feature in Google Docs to create a timeline presentation instead of using a generic poster board as their presentation display.
I look forward to using this more this next school year. I plan uploading the homework pages each week to be shared with the students. This will also be useful in sharing documents with team members. I'm sure I will think of other ways once the year gets started. Can't wait to create and share!

In case anyone is a list maker like myself here is a cute To Do List that was shared with me:

11 Tools #3- Video and Image Resources

I have used YouTube, TeacherTube, and SchoolTube in my classroom the last few years. There are many great videos on all. I do search for the videos before hand -especially on YouTube to make sure the content is appropriate before showing the students. I had not used KidTube before, I can see this being a great resource for our students that enjoy making movies and wanting a safe place to upload and share their work.
I've sent links to videos to help parents when they have asked me for explainations on how to help their child at home for example this video on subtraction with regrouping:

Traditional News Sources have resources have great up to date information. Just like this short clip about the new "My Plate" that is taking the place of the food pyramid.


I love Discovery Education because it is really easy to search for videos, clips and images not only by topic but also narrowing down the search by age/grade making sure the information is appropriate for my 2nd graders. Also you are able to download/view an entire video or can download only the clip that is relevant to what I'm teaching. This saves me time since I don't have to cut the video myself or spend time fast forwarding the video.

I have used Picasa Web Albums and Photobucket for my Technology lessons the past two years to search for images. As well as used Picasa Web Albums for my personal photos. Discovery Ed. also has great still images.

It is important for the students to understand the importance of Copyright and Fair Use.
Because of the information and resources you can find on the web this is more and more important to understand what this means. This is sometimes difficult to get 2nd graders to understand what it means and why it is important to site your resources. I explained to my students that if they wrote or created something they wouldn't want someone to take it without their permission. I asked them why they wrote their name on all of their work. The answers of course included- "so you know it is mine", "Because I wrote it", etc. Exactly! This is why you should always site your sources and respect the copyrights of others. I think it made a little more sense to them when I had them think about their own work.

11 Tools #2 Building Community in Online Environment

I am so glad that I have use blogger for the last few years and have subscribed to many educational blogs. The educators I met through these blogs have been an invaluable resource these last few years. I have not only been able to receive information and ideas from them but have also been able to share my ideas with others through this online community.
I included a blog list on this blog to show a few of my favorite educator blogs that I visit and comment on regularly. I hope this list will be helpful to others.
At first I was nervous about commenting on others blogs, however once I began I realized that I was able to learn so much more with others than trying to reinvent the wheel by myself.

11 Tools Blog

Luckily creating the 11 tools blog was easy for me. This year I used a blog to communicate classroom news to my parents. I still have a lot to learn about blogging though. I had not used Voki before, which was fun to create.